When it comes to Instagram, 3-5 posts a week can be beneficial for your business, with the hours between 12pm and 3pm on Wednesday and Friday proving the best, as per Hubspot. Instagram Boss Adam Mosseri said in 2024 that frequent posts can help with reach – but don’t burn out. Consistency is key, but if you feel you need a break or have less to post then you can drop the number of posts down if needed. 

 

Buffer’s research found that businesses who post 3-5 times a week have a 12% higher reach than those who post 1-2 times, and 10+ posts bring in a 24% higher reach. If you’ve got enough quality content to be posting over 10 times a week then go for it – but aiming for 3 posts a week to begin with can help to satisfy both quality and quantity for your audience. 

LinkedIn, unsurprisingly, is a platform much better suited to having posts done across the week – with anywhere between 1-5 posts being enough for engagement. If you’ve ever been on LinkedIn, you’ll often see posts from days or weeks ago appearing on your feed alongside fresh content – meaning bombarding the platform with posts isn’t always the best idea. Anytime between 9am to early afternoon is the best time to post, as this is when users seem to be the most active – with Monday proving to be the most popular day. 

X has become less of a priority for marketers and the general public alike since it was taken over a few years ago, but it’s still a highly popular platform – and for those who are still using it, here’s what you need to know. The best time to post on X is between 3-6pm, though 12-3pm and 6pm-9pm also delivered similar results. Hubspot found that Friday is by far the best day to post on X, and with the algorithm favouring newer posts, having multiple pieces of content go out will help you appear on the timelines of your audience more frequently without you getting lost amongst other pieces of fresh content. 

If you’re continuing to build your TikTok presence in 2026, or you’re looking to add it to your marketing plans for the year, then there’s no better time to get things set up. Hupspot found TikTok also leaned more towards late afternoon / evening – with 3-pm proving the best time to post, although there wasn’t much difference between posting earlier or later. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday also were the best days to post, with Buffer suggesting 2-5 times if you want to bring in the best engagement. TikTok is dependent on your audience – even if you post one video a week, all it takes is for a video to start gaining traction for an audience to form and all of your other content to start seeing an uptake in views and engagement. 

Having a good idea of when to post and the volume of posts you’re putting out can help you to form consistent schedules, plan your content and ensure you’re getting the maximum reach and engagement possible. When you’ve figured out the best time, you’ll be able to design a marketing plan that puts you on a path to success. 

 

If you’re looking to target this generation, then these 3 platforms – TikTok and Instagram especially are where you’ll be wanting to focus your marketing efforts. 

Gen Z have been a played a huge role in shaping online culture and language – they, along with Gen Alpha – decide what’s cool, what’s trending, how long that trend lasts and when things become ‘out of fashion’. There are some real sticking points for Gen Z, which are the things you need to be focusing on with your marketing in 2026 that can set you on the right path for success. 

 

Authenticity – Over anything else, this is a huge priority for Gen Z. Growing up with social media, filters, influencers and now the rise of AI, Gen Z experienced in real time the negative impacts that fake, staged and posed content has had on their peers – so that’s why authenticity is key. They need to believe in your brand, and the overly-polished style just doesn’t always work for them. Gen Z like to see a brand not just selling to them, but giving them a behind the scenes look, inviting them into what it’s like to work for the brand and to use the product. It’s why TikTok has really become a place for brands to grow – instead of taking things so seriously, many brands have adopted a brand voice in comment sections and bios that reflect their Gen Z consumer base, hopping onto trends that not only are entertaining, but ones that give a real authentic look into those behind the brand, humanising it and giving things a real community feel. 

 

Values – This is another priority for Gen Z – this generation will call out when they think something isn’t authentic or is being done just for the sake of looking good. You need to make your values clear from the very start – not just during awareness months or days. If you do so, make sure you’re taking meaningful action too as brand activism must be backed up for Gen Z – changing your profile photo for a short time won’t cut it. If they feel aligned with your values, and can tell it’s something you also truly believe in, then you’ll be on your way to getting them more involved with your brand and content. 

 

Relatability – This is a big one. Over the last few years, both attitudes and audiences have shifted away from content that’s flashy and more towards what they can relate to, and niche influencers who operate solely in fields that they’re interested in. Working with smaller influencers who already possess audiences similar to that of your target audience can help to grow your brand and reach more people who'll likely be inrigued by one of your products or services. Not only this, but working with people your audience already feel they relate to is much more beneficial for your brand. 

 

Sustainability – Gen Z are big on being eco-conscious so ensure this is reflected in our values and your packaging/products. It’s not just something your brand talks about – its reflected in everything you do and is a requirement for Gen Z audiences when they come to select which brands they choose. 

 

Mobile Optimisation – if your website isn’t on mobile, and if your business isn’t on social media, you’ll be missing out on a huge chunk of your audience being able to find and buy from you. Gen Z are masters at online shopping and product discovery – and with things such as Instagram’s product tagging and TikTok’s integrated shop feature, it’s easier than ever for not only information to be at their fingertips, but also the potential to buy. Optimising your website for mobile and getting yourself onto social media will put you on the right track when connecting with Gen Z. 

 

If your brand is looking for Gen Z’s interaction, then hopefully this blog will help you to understand what you need to do to target this generation effectively. 

 

Fix: Starting off small with around £5 a day allows you to test and scale in tune with the results that are being delivered. Having a small budget doesn’t mean less results – it can in fact bring in a lot of business and a lot of money, allowing you to consider adding more budget to your ads overtime once they begin bringing in the numbers you desire. 

Targeting is often the ‘make or break’ part of your Facebook Ads – and it’s where business often fall in their strategies. You really need to familiarise yourself with your target audience before you begin running ads – if you go too broad or too niche, it can often leave you with little audience engagement. 

 

Fix: Instead, target what you know (and what Facebook has available) about your audience. If you’re targeting parents, but only those with young children for example, Facebook allows you to select those who are listed of having children in specific age ranges. From demographics to jobs and even such things as engaged shoppers, there is an abundance of targeting options that will work for your businesses – so elect the right people and let Facebook’s algorithm do the rest. When the data comes in, you can refine your targeting if needed – learning as you go where your core audience lies. 

One of the main reasons that Facebook Ads often fail is due to the wrong objective being chosen. This is the beginning of any campaign creation – forming the basis of your campaign and helping Facebook to understand your desired outcome – if you want sales, then you’re looking for a sales campaign, not awareness or engagement. 

 

Fix: There are Traffic, Sales, Engagement App Promotion, Leads and Awareness objectives, all offering different goals to help bring in the best interaction with your ad. As an example, you’d use a Lead campaign if you want messages, calls, sign ups or an instant form whereas Traffic is good for link clicks and landing page views. Knowing exactly what outcome you need from your campaign will help select the correct objective, giving Facebook clear instructions and you clearer results. 

For some, the ad creative can be the part that trips businesses up with their Facebook Ads. Either you have a great creative but the setup is poor, or you have a great setup and the creative is poor. If you’re falling into the latter category, then this is where you’re making a mistake. Common issues with ad creative include: 

 

- Unclear or an absence of a call to action 

- No clear benefit conveyed to the audience 

- Generic images that don’t stand out 

- Confusing, overloaded graphic design 

- Multiple messages in one ad 

 

You have seconds to grab the attention of your audience member – remember they’re not on Facebook to buy, so your ad needs to stop them in their tracks whilst scrolling through posts from friends, family and pages they engage with regularly. 

 

Fix: Once you know what it is you want to promote, ask yourself 3 things: Who is the ad for? What problem does it solve? What benefit does it provide? 

Stick with one message, one offer and one goal – use high quality imagery, branded, simple designs and make your customer feel that they need your product or service. Touch on their pain points, solve them, and then direct them to exactly where they need to go. Pair this with a great set up, and you’ll be on track for success. 

You can’t build and run an ad and then ignore the results, leaving an ad that may be using a lot of budget but getting little results running in the background or stopping an ad that is bringing in results. Facebook Ads require regular results tracking, so you know what is and isn’t working so you can tweak and scale correctly. There’s also the case of focusing on the wrong data - likely you’ll be looking more towards likes, comments and shares, which, whilst important, are vanity metrics – you want to be looking more towards the things that actually matter such as your actionable metrics like conversions. 

 

Fix: From the start, make sure your tracking is set up correctly so that you don’t run into any issues, and then focus your attention on the metrics that will align with your goals such as – in a leads campaign – the amount of leads, the cost per lead, and even cost per link click and click through rate. Getting this data tracked on a weekly basis can help guide you with the future of your campaigns, giving you the chance to see how your campaigns improve over time and giving you an indication of when to make those crucial changes to allow your ad to perform at its best. 

 

Facebook Ad issues often aren’t often down to the complex or advanced settings but rather the simpler tasks, that whilst seemingly straightforward, also leave room for small errors that can change the way your campaign performs. By fixing these mistakes, you can run an ad that works for your business – allowing this to become a key part of your marketing strategy.